The following is a list of current National Football League stadiums, sorted by capacity, their locations, their first year of usage and home teams.
Stadiums represent a considerable expense to a community, and thus their construction, use, and funding often enters the public discourse.[1] Also, given the perceived advantage a team gets to playing in their home stadium, particular attention is given in the media to the peculiarities of each stadium's environment. Climate, playing surface (either natural or artificial turf), and the presence or lack of a roof or dome all contribute to giving each team its home-field advantage.
Franchises playing in a domed or retractable-roof stadium typically do poorly in the playoffs.[2] As of January 4, 2007, dome teams were 8-29 in outdoor playoff games. The only dome teams to win a Super Bowl are the 1999 St. Louis Rams, the 2006 Indianapolis Colts and the 2009 New Orleans Saints, although the Rams won the Super Bowl in the Georgia Dome in 1999.[3] In 2010, three of the four teams playing in the AFC and NFC championships had home stadiums that had a dome or retractable roof (New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings, and the Indianapolis Colts). Super Bowl XLIV hosted the Saints and the Colts, marking the first time that two indoor teams played each other in a Super Bowl. Conversely, outdoor stadium teams tend to do well in the playoffs. Through Super Bowl XLIV, outdoor teams have won 41 of the 44 Super Bowls held so far.[4][5] Outdoor stadiums built in climates with an average January temperature of less than 50°F (10°C) are, by rule, not allowed to host the Super Bowl, though this was apparently waived to allow Super Bowl XLVIII, in 2014, to be hosted at MetLife Stadium.
The New York Giants and New York Jets share a stadium (MetLife Stadium), thus there are only 31 NFL stadiums.[6]
The NFL uses several other stadiums on a regular basis in addition to the teams' designated regular home sites. The NFL International Series places one regular season game per year at Wembley Stadium in London, and the Buffalo Bills have an agreement to play one home game per year from 2008-2012 plus three exhibition games at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In addition, Fawcett Stadium in Canton, Ohio hosts the annual exhibition Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, and Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii usually hosts the Pro Bowl.
The New York Giants' and New York Jets' MetLife Stadium is the largest in the NFL in terms of regular capacity. The Dallas Cowboys' Cowboys Stadium can expand past that of MetLife Stadium by means of standing room and temporary seating, which makes Cowboys Stadium the only NFL stadium capable of holding 100,000 or more fans, though it normally only seats 80,000. The smallest full-time NFL stadium is Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears. All of the full-time NFL stadiums seat between 60,000 and 83,000 fans; teams rarely go above this mark because the league's television contracts encourage teams to sell out by allowing sellout games to be televised locally, and having too many seats to fill makes selling out difficult, reducing the team's media attention. The Jacksonville Jaguars faced this exact problem, and for the past several years have covered up several thousand seats at EverBank Field in an effort to sell out more games. Teams are allowed to cover seats to reduce capacity, but must do so for all home games at the stadium, including playoff games, unless given express permission otherwise. Super Bowls are generally exempt from this rule and can expand to as many seats as desired.
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Stadiums are listed by their seating capacity for NFL games. Some stadiums can be expanded to fit larger crowds.
| Domed Stadiums | |
| Stadiums with a retractable roof |
| Image | Stadium | Capacity | City | State/Province | Surface | Home teams | Opened | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wembley Stadium | 86,000 | London | England, United Kingdom | Grass | NFL International Series | 2007 | [40] | |
| Rogers Centre | 54,000 | Toronto | Ontario, Canada | Astroturf Gameday Grass 3D | Buffalo Bills | 1989 | [41] | |
| Aloha Stadium | 50,000 | Honolulu | Hawaii | FieldTurf | Pro Bowl | 1975 | [42] | |
| Fawcett Stadium | 22,375 | Canton | Ohio | FieldTurf | Hall of Fame Game | 1938 | [43] |
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